“Children are our most precious natural resource. Through a child’s eyes war, hunger, and all other horrors of mankind cease to exist; if only for a short while. It does not matter how much your net worth is, or when the next bills are due. To a child all that matters are the stolen moments filled with love, and maybe a little imagination.”
Appleshoe

Wednesday, October 1, 2014

A Doll and a Lesson

Meet Apple. She is Panda's newest buddy. Named Apple because it is that time of the year, apples are Panda's favorite thing, she is about the size of a large apple, and because it was a fitting name. This is about the 100th Waldorf doll that I've made. One of the smallest dolls I've made (just slightly over 7 inches tall). And quite possibly my favorite doll. You see, Apple taught me a valuable lesson.

Apple began as a project for an up and coming road trip. Originally I thought about making her into a Tinkerbell doll for a car buddy. We don't watch a lot of television, but recently we relented and Panda has been allowed to watch a movie about once a month (sometimes less). He is enamored with Disney's Tinkerbell. I know, Disney! Not my favorite either, but it is the only thing that seems to calm him down when the barometric pressure changes are incredibly painful. I know that's what causes the upset because I can feel them to.

I battled back and forth about making a character tie-in doll. I'm not much for commercialization, but I knew he would love a fairy. I argued back and forth with myself about how I would embellish this doll. I wanted to honor his interests and make him a doll he would be interested in, but I also wanted to honor our family's choice to not buy into commercialization and the media. I wanted to make him a "buddy".

Panda solved my dilemma. He loved her before she was finished and kept trying to take her out of my sewing machine. Heck, he did this before she even had a head! It didn't matter what she looked like. He even chose the yarn for her hair, which was not the Tinkerbell yellow I had sitting out. It was the only skein of soft mohair I own. I had purchased it many MANY years ago to repair my niece's lovey Waldorf doll "PrettyFlower", it had been sitting forgotten in the bottom of my yarn basket. Panda pulled it out and stuck it on her head while I was showing him different yarn wigs. He insisted the soft mohair was what she needed.

Tinkerbell is not the only fairy that captures Panda's interest right now. There are also the Tales of Tiptoes lightly, and many nature fairy and gnome books. To honor his love of faeries in general I gave Apple wings and a look all of her own. Her wings are attached to her dress so one day when he outgrows fairies I can just give her a new outfit.

Such a simple lesson. Such a simple and profound love. These two are a matched pair. My son loves her, not because she is stuffed with wool (though she is warm and soft to hold), not because of her tiny size (though that helps to), not because of the tiny red satin heart stitched inside, not because of her name, or even how I decided to embellish her. To my son all that matters is that he watched her being made by his mum. A special gift made just for him, born of a mother's love, and stitched into every inch of this tiny doll. And THAT is the lesson this little doll taught me.

Welcome to the family Apple. May you bring many years of happiness to my dear son.

It's funny Kim, we've surrounded him with natural toys (bought and mades alike) be cause it's what WE wanted for him. I think this is the first time it sunk in that it's what HE likes, wants, and needs as well.